A virtual machine (VM) is a software artifact that, when executed on appropriate hardware, creates an environment that allows for a virtualization of various resources of an actual physical computer system (e.g., a server, a mainframe computer, etc.). The actual physical computer system is typically referred to as a “host machine,” and the operating system of the host machine is typically referred to as the “host operating system.” On the host machine, a virtual machine monitor known as a “hypervisor” handles the provisioning of resources for and management of one or more virtual machines. The virtual machine monitor provides a variety of functions, such as initializing the virtual machines and executing requests by the virtual machines for the various resources of the host machine.